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Fellow travelers Vincent Fort and Jim Wooten are among those who think Sam Williams, president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, needs to resign over the chamber’s complicity in covering up the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal. If he does, Williams will leave behind an annual salary nearing 7 figures.

Mark Elgart, when not scaring the pants off of local school boards, draws a paycheck of more than $350,000 from this Alpharetta-based non-profit, Advance Education Inc. Tax records show four other senior staffers also earn $150,000 or more.

The head of the Georgia Lottery made about a half-million dollars last year, but you wouldn’t know it if you checked salary data on the state auditor’s website. Open.Georgia.gov shows Margaret DeFrancisco was paid $353,500 in salary in FY2010. What it doesn’t tell you is that the lottery paid her a bonus of $143,276 last year. What’s up with that?

Michael Lomax, former Fulton County Commission chairman, has done quite well for himself since leaving town. He’s served since 2004 as president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund, which paid Lomax $1,271,938 last year. That sum included base pay of about $354,000, a partial retirement package of $686,000 and another $96,000 toward his next retirement package, which vests in 2012.

Former Georgia legislator Pete Robinson put his lobbying clients on hold this month when he joined Gov.-elect Nathan Deal’s transition team. Those clients paid at least $320,000 (probably much more) for his services in 2010, state records show. That sum represents the amount paid to Troutman Sanders Strategies. Robinson, as chairman of the firm, receives an undisclosed portion of that sum.

Walter Broadnax more than doubled his compensation in 2009, making him the best-paid university president in Georgia and one of 30 nationally to top $1 million at private schools. That total reportedly includes an undetermined amount of retirement and bonus pay.

Georgia’s new agriculture commissioner, Gary Black, reported income of $154,000 in 2009 from his cattle farm in Jackson County and his job at the Georgia Agribusiness Council. He’ll earn about $120,000 as ag commissioner.

Tim Echols, a nonprofit leader and political consultant running for the Georgia Public Service Commission, says he earned more than $120,000 last year plus a housing allowance and family health benefits worth another $67,000.

John F. Douglas, a three-term state senator from Social Circle, says he made $113,000 and change last year. That includes his salaries as a legislator ($31,741, including per diem) and as a field rep for the Peace Officers Association of Georgia, military retirement and his wife’s salary.

We can’t say for sure for sure how much these three earned last year. That’s because they have neglected to file the disclosure report required of candidates for secretary of state. The disclosures were due May 7 — a week after they qualified to run for secretary of state.

about this page

This page covers financial disclosures by public officials -- including personal finances, campaign accounts and business transactions with public agencies.

do it yourself salary investigation

-- The size of any public employee's paycheck is public information. Ask at your city hall or county courthouse.

-- Past years' pay for any state worker, including local school employees, can be searched at the State Auditor's Web site. (This data does not include local pay supplements often paid to teachers, judges and others.)

-- Non-profit groups, since they are tax-exempt, must file tax returns showing top salaries and other spending. The groups must make recent returns available to the public on request. Guidestar.com also lets you look up a group's three most recent returns online for free.

-- Publicly traded companies must report pay for executives and boards of directors to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which offers an online search. Select a company and look for its DEF 14A report.